This study explores the voluntary turnover of Millennials from the Millennials’
perspective to discover why Millennials quit their former jobs and, subsequently, what it means to Millennials when they voluntarily leave an organization. The conceptual framework for this study is Person Organization fit (P-O fit; Kristof, 1996). P-O fit is defined as “the compatibility between people and organizations that occurs when: (a) at least one entity provides what the other needs, or (b) they share similar fundamental characteristics, or (c) both” (Kristof, 1996, p.
2). Based on the forthcoming report of the findings for the study, P-O fit or lack thereof provides a rationale for the high voluntary turnover of Millennials.
Bracketing Process
In a phenomenological study such as this one, the first step in the data analysis process is called bracketing or epoche (Creswell, 2007). Bracketing is a necessary step because it “typically refers to an investigator’s identification of vested interests, personal experience, cultural factors, assumptions, and hunches that could influence how he or she views the study’s data. For the sake of viewing data freshly, these involvements are placed in ‘brackets’ and ‘shelved’ for the time being as much as is possible” (Fischer, 2009, p. 583). A sample list of the researcher’s
assumptions, personal experiences, and interests follows:
• Assumptions. The researcher approached the study assuming that (a) Millennials want to share their experience of voluntarily leaving an organization; (b) the workplace needs to be improved for Millennials; (c) Millennials will not remain at any organization for a long time; (d) Millennials are angry or mad at their previous employers; (e) Millennials are quitting and moving back home or they already reside at home; (f) Millennials’ perception of “fit” played a role in their decision to quit; (g)
Millennials are misunderstood by previous generations; and (h) something occurred within their organizations to make Millennials seek employment elsewhere.
• Personal experiences. The researcher is a Millennial who (a) has more than once experienced work environments that do not match the way they were described in job interviews; (b) has usually held a job while simultaneously going to school or running a business; (c) and has never looked at a job from a career perspective; has never seen her jobs as merely a means to advance along a particular career path;
• Interests. The researcher is interested in (a) improving the college-to-work transition and/or employment outcomes for college students and recent graduates; (b)
improving the workplace for Millennials; (c) helping organizations recruit and retain Millennials; (d) educating Millennials on employers’ needs and expectations; and (e) educating employers on Millennials’ needs and expectations in hopes of finding a happy medium.
In addition to identifying and temporarily setting aside any assumptions, personal experiences, and interests that could influence the way the data was interpreted, the researcher was mindful not to quickly make assumptions and draw conclusions based on her own personal work experiences and challenges.
Profile of Participants
There were 21 female and four male participants for a total of 25 participants. Of the 21 female participants, 18 were single and had no children, while the remaining three were married, and two of them had children. Of the four male participants, three were single and had no
children, and one was married with one child. To be eligible to participate in the study, respondents had to be born between approximately 1982 and 2002 to be classified as a
Millennial. The average age of the participants was 28.96. The age range was between 24 and 35, which indicates the participants were born between 1979 and 1990.
Moreover, the participants were representative of racially diverse backgrounds. When asked about their ethnicity, eight of the participants identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino(a); seven stated they were Caucasian or White; three classified themselves as African American; three were mixed with two or more races; two identified themselves as Asian or Japanese; and two were classified by the researcher as “Other” primarily because their ethnicity is not reflected on the U.S. Census Bureau. Even though the participants provided their race to the interview question that asked about ethnicity, the researcher acknowledges that she should have asked a question about race as opposed to ethnicity. In regards to their living situation, 16 participants indicated they rent, six stated they own, and three were living rent-free. Most of the participants (64%) resided in urban areas, and 36% percent resided in suburban areas.
Additionally, the participants’ annual household income varied significantly. For example, one individual’s household income was between $100,000 and $115,000, while another participant’s income was between $20,000 and $40,000. In addition to being bachelor degree holders, at the time of the study, 20 of the 25 research participants were pursuing a Master of Business
Administration (MBA) from a large Christian University in the West while four of the remaining five participants were MBA degree holders or in pursuit of one. (See Table 2.)
Table 2
Demographics of the Participants
Demographic Attributes Number of participants (%) Gender
Note. Percentages are based on the total number of participants in the study, which is 25.
Table 3 displays a list of the participants’ college majors, which is worth mentioning because the subsequent findings reveal that some of the participants obtained—and later quit—
jobs that were not aligned with their career goals/college degree.
Table 3
List of College Majors Studied by the Participants
Undergraduate Major Number of Participants
American studies and theatre
Note. All the participants earned a bachelor’s degree from a four-year college/university In regards to their current employment status, 23 participants were employed by an employer, and two were self-employed. Based on their job titles, 15 were professionals
(nonmanagers), seven were managers, two were self-employed (one freelancer and one business owner), and the current profession of one participant was unknown (see Figure 1 and Table 4).
Figure 1 displays the current employment information for the participants. Slightly less than a third of the participants (31%) who are employed by an employer were managers, leaving slightly more than two thirds (60%) as nonmanagers.
Figure 1. Number of participants in managerial/non-managerial roles.
Table 4 is a detailed list of the job titles of the participants. This is worth mentioning because it helps to demonstrate whether the participants have advanced in their professional careers since quitting the jobs discussed in the study.
After graduating from college but prior to obtaining their current positions, the research participants held on average a total of 2.24 jobs, all of which they quit within 5 years of being hired. One of the participants reported quitting six jobs from the time she graduated from college in 2004 until the date of the study in 2014. Most of the participants who stated they had only quit one job after graduating from a 4-year college/university and within 5 years of being hired were recent graduates who had obtained their undergraduate degrees between 2010 and 2012. For the interview, participants were asked to select and discuss only one of the jobs they had quit after college graduation and within 5 years of being hired.
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Professional (Non-‐
managers) Managers Self-‐employed Unknown
Number of Participants
Type of Position
Current Employment Information
Table 4
List of the Participants’ Current Job Titles
Job Titles Number of Participants
Account manager
Note. Some uniquely identifiable job titles were slightly altered to protect the anonymity of the participants.
Focusing on the participants’ attitudes about former jobs allowed the researcher to protect their current employability and capture the true essence of their experience of quitting a job.
Figure 2 displays the job history of the participants, most of whom have quit between one and three jobs since graduating from college and within 5 years of being hired. The total number of jobs for two of the participants is unknown, but to participate in the interview they had to have quit at least one job.
Figure 2. Job history of the participants.
The former jobs selected for discussion by the Millennials who participated in the study varied by type of sector, industry, and position. Seventeen participants’ former jobs were in the private sector, seven were in the public sector, and one was in the not-for-profit sector.
Additionally, the top three industries the participants previously worked in were retail, banking, and finance; almost half of the 25 participants’ former jobs were entry-level (48% or 12 people), and the same number (48% or 12 people) held midlevel positions. One participant held a senior-level role. Moreover, when the participants were asked if their former jobs aligned with their career goals and/or college degree, 14 participants (56%) said “yes”; 10 participants (40%) said
“no”; and one response was unknown. The length of time participants spent at their previous job ranged from 4 months to 5 years. Essentially, the average time the Millennials in the study stayed at their former job was 30.04 months, which is slightly less than the national 3.2 year average for members of this generation (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012) and more than 2 years shorter than the 5.74 years Millennials expect to stay on their jobs, according to a study conducted by Modern
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Less Than 3 Jobs More Than 3 Jobs Total # of Jobs Unknown
Number of Participants
Number of Jobs Quit After Graduating from College and Within Zero-‐Five Years of Being Hired
Job History
Survey (“The impact of the new long-term employee,” 2013). Lastly, the majority of the
Millennials in the study stated they were one of “many” Millennials at their former employer as opposed to a “few,” but even so, they said their former work environments were comprised mostly of Generation Xers or Baby Boomers and Generations Xers. Slightly less than 20% of the participants worked in an organization that consisted mostly of Millennials. Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6 depict details of the jobs discussed by the participants in the study. As a reminder, the
participants’ were asked by the researcher to talk about their experience of quitting their former employer; therefore, the remaining data analysis and display of findings will focus on their previous jobs.
Figure 3 depicts the participants’ previous jobs by sector and type of position. As seen in this figure, more participants left jobs in the private sector than in other areas.
Figure 4 depicts the participants’ previous jobs by industry. As can be seen in the figure, the retail industry experienced the most turnover from the participants.
Figure 5 shows the length of time the participants stayed at their previous jobs. As shown in the figure, most of the participants stayed at their former employers for up to 12 months or between 49-60 months. Considering that on average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2012), Millennials are quitting their jobs in 3.2 years, this figure shows that the participants worked significantly less or more than the national average.
Figure 6 highlights the circumstances in which each participant left their previous
employers. Nine of them, more than in any other category, quit their jobs without having another one lined up, while seven were actively seeking and obtained a new job. Moreover, a fifth of the participants were recruited by another employer.
Figure 3. Display of the participants’ previous jobs by sector and type of position.
Figure 4. Participants’ previous job by industry.
Retail
Previous Jobs by Industy
0
Private Sector Public Sector Not-‐for-‐ProUit Sector
Previous Jobs by Sector and Type of Position
Entry Level Position Mid Level Position Senior Level Position
Figure 5. Length of time the participants stayed at their previous job before quitting.
Figure 6. The circumstances in which the participants left their previous employers.
0
Length of Time on Previous Jobs
0
another employer I was actively
seeking a new job I didn’t have any job
How Did the Participants Leave Their Previous Employer?
Number of Participants
Figure 7 shows which age groups (Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, or Millennials) dominated the workplaces where the participants previously worked. This is worth mentioning because research on generational differences suggests that Baby Boomers and Generation Xers share similar views on Millennials; specifically, neither generation thinks highly of the newest generation to enter the workplace (Gursoy et al., 2008). A better understanding of Millennials is needed to help organizations learn the best means to recruit and retain the newest generation entering the workplace (Luscombe et al., 2013), and who is better to tell their story than the Millennials themselves?
Figure 7. Dominant generation(s) at participants’ previous jobs.
Participants’ reaction to the interview/study. The researcher implemented several recruitment strategies to solicit the participation of Millennials who fit the criteria for the study (see Chapter 3). The recruitment tactic that yielded the greatest number of interested participants was class visits. Specifically, the researcher visited 10 graduate-level classes and made an
0
Xers Millennials Baby Boomers
Dominant Generation(s) at Previous Jobs
study, and 42 of them were students the researcher recruited during class visits and who provided contact information to arrange an interview at a later date. Six of the remaining 10 prospective participants were snowballed by another participant, and the other four responded to email requests. Of the 52 people who either directly expressed interest in the study or responded to email solicitation from a friend or colleague, 25 of them actually went through with the interview process.
Not only does this show that a significant number of Millennials were interested in the study, but it also indicates that slightly less than half of the initial respondents (48%) wanted to share their experience of quitting a job and, subsequently, help improve the workplace for Millennials and the HR professionals and managers who recruit, hire, train, and manage them.
Additionally, several of the participants said they were happy to assist with the research, while others demonstrated their enthusiasm for the study by speaking candidly and energetically. One participant even asked the researcher to excuse any frustrations he expressed toward his previous employer during the interview because he felt the employer provided him an opportunity to gain valuable experience, but he said his reasons for quitting trumped the benefits of working for that particular organization.
Lastly, more than half (64%) of the participants requested a copy of the researcher’s interpretation of their story and/or the research findings, which demonstrates the participants’
desires for an accurately reported account of their story and interest in knowing how their experience corresponds to or differs from other Millennials.
Findings
Before reporting the findings, a restatement of the research questions is necessary as each individual subquestion served as guide for analyzing the data and answering the overarching
central research question: What does it mean to Millennials when they quit their jobs? The following subquestions helped to explore the phenomenon under examination:
Q1. What do Millennials perceive as the reasons they chose to join their former employers?
Q2. What do Millennials perceive as the reasons they chose to quit their former employers?
Q3. What do Millennials think about loyalty to employers?
Q4. To what degree do an organization’s attributes influence Millennials perception of fit?
The findings were arranged by research questions, utilizing a storytelling approach to share the personal stories, feelings, experiences, and true insight of Millennials who voluntarily quit their former employers. By the end of the research, a meaning for the voluntary turnover of Millennials was discovered. Quotes from the participants will be utilized below to illustrate responses to each of the research questions and other aspects of the study; what is included are excerpts from interview responses. Each participant was given a number, and their quotes will be identified only by those numbers; all quotes from participants included in the remainder of this study were personal communications offered during the research interviews. The dates of those interviews are shown with each quote.
Q1. What do Millennials perceive as the reasons they chose to join their former employers?
The participants applied for a job at their former employers because they found certain aspects of the job and organization attractive. As seen in Table 5, benefits, compensation, location, opportunity to learn and pursue a career that corresponds to their college degree, career growth, flexible work schedule, work environment, company reputation/brand, job training,
diversity, ease of obtaining a position, need for employment, and the idea that a company was willing to take a risk on a less-experienced candidate were all factors that attracted the
participants to their former employers.
Table 5
What Attracted Participants to the Job/Organization What Attracted Participants
to the Job/Organization Number
of participants
Work environment 6
Company reputation/brand 6
Opportunity to learn, pursue career that
corresponds to college degree, grow with company 5
Benefits 4
Location 4
Compensation 3
Need for employment 3
Diversity 2
Flexible work schedule 2
Ease of obtaining a position 2
Job training 1
Job responsibilities 1
Company willing to take risk on a less experienced 1
Note. Themes are ranked by number of participants who cited them Significant statements that illustrate the participants’ attraction to the job and organizational attributes noted above are as follows:
“Opportunity to make money and balance work and school . . .” (P13, April 11, 2014).
“Strong reputation for great benefits and fun environment to work in”
(P15, April 12, 2014).
“The opportunity to work in a new field . . . It gave me an opportunity to apply my degree to my career” (P2, March 23, 2014).
“Well in this situation I was referred by a friend who was working there as a manager. But also what attracted me was things like the location, good work corporate environment, also it’s near my home, I was customer of the restaurant over the years and so I thought it was a
good place to work. So those were the things that attracted me to it”
(P20, May 1, 2014).
“Large corporate name, benefits, location to home (proximity to home), and I liked the people that interviewed me. I thought they were good people to work for. We got along well” (P21, May 2, 2014).
“I think the things that still attracted me to them were the ability to be in a challenging work environment, a quantitative environment, [and] also just good people. I saw the person that interviewed me was African American, I think the receptionist was African American…I had seen that there were some African American people in pretty good
positions and there was actually a lot of diversity there” (P23, May 24, 2014).
“What really attracted me was the fact that they had the possibility of tuition reimbursement. Education is very important to me . . . so my educational goals were very high, and it seemed like they had stock in their employees and would provide that (P3, March 24, 2014).
“I was definitely attracted to the income that I’d be getting. I mean it was very, very awesome at that time to be able to have a job like that” (P4, March 24, 2014).
“They were a startup and so they were growing and upward mobility was something that was discussed at my interview. Like okay, we are hiring for this entry-level position, but we are growing so we have opportunities for you to grow within our organization, and that was something that really appealed to me at the time” (P6, March 26, 2014).
“So they appealed to me because there weren’t a whole lot of barriers for hiring. They offer a flexible schedule, so that would give me time to look for other opportunities” (P9, April 2, 2014).
“I [was interested] in the banking industry, and I had no experience, and they were willing to hire me in, so yeah, I wanted to learn about the banking industry” (P8, April 1, 2014).
“I just needed a job during school; I didn’t really care where I worked”
(P17, April 9, 2014).
In addition to being attracted to specific job and organizational attributes, the participants considered a number of factors prior to deciding to join their former employers. They considered benefits, pay, culture, location, opportunity to learn, a chance to pursue a career corresponding to their college degree, job responsibilities, flexible schedule, company reputation/brand, treatment
In addition to being attracted to specific job and organizational attributes, the participants considered a number of factors prior to deciding to join their former employers. They considered benefits, pay, culture, location, opportunity to learn, a chance to pursue a career corresponding to their college degree, job responsibilities, flexible schedule, company reputation/brand, treatment